A Contest of Principles (Star Trek: The Original Series)

Good story with some suprises. Well written. There were a few short sections that got slow a bit boring. Overall I recommend this book.

So many stories have been written over the years with our favorite characters. This one isn't the best ever written, but it was a fun read and I enjoyed it.

A CONTEST OF PRINCIPLES is a new Star Trek TOS novel from author Greg Cox. I purchased for myself with a gift card I got for Christmas and I’ve devoured the novel. My wife says I’m a notoriously slow reader and she was surprised at the alacrity with which I finished this novel. Within the first three chapters of this novel, I was transported to my childhood watching Star Trek TOS on my 13″ rabbit-eared television in my bedroom after school.My imagination was aglow with the striking red, blue, and gold of the Enterprise crew’s uniforms and the tell-tale background sounds of the Enterprise bridge that let the viewer know that this is no ordinary television show. You are now far-flung into humanity’s bright future!The author does a fantastic job capturing the voice of our triad of heroes Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, as the story is told from each of their three perspectives: Kirk on the planet Vok struggling to complete his mission on behalf of the Federation and this fledgling democracy, Spock on the planet Bracon leading a party to investigate the mysterious abduction of Dr McCoy, and Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy, trapped on the planet Ozalor waging an internal battle to honor is sense of compassion and the Hippocratic Oath or to answer the call of his indomitable spirit and see to his duty to escape and return to the Enterprise.Nurse Chapel plays a prominent role in the story and, as I was reading, Majel Barrett’s voice and visage sprang to life in my mind’s eye. Additionally, I had the luxury of watching the performances of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelly as the story unfolded in my imagination as if I were watching an episode of a full-color television show produced 50 years ago!It was my honor to host Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Jame Doohan, and Walter Koenig as well and we were having the time our lives! Special guest stars in this story are the security and tactical officers Levine and Godwin who, after meeting them for the first time in A CONTEST OF PRINCIPLES, I would demand to have at my side on every away mission — red shirt or not!If you’re a fan of great morality tales, pertinent allegories, and true Star Trek science fiction I can’t recommend this novel highly enough. This is the first Star Trek novel I’ve read in more than 25 years and I can’t believe that I’ve been sitting around grousing about things I’ve seen streaming on television when I could have lived the life of an imagination connoisseur and delved deeply into these sorts of novels that contain my favorite characters on the most famous spaceship to ever grace the world’s consciousness.So, if you’re looking for a great time and a way to cleanse your palate, so to speak, pick up A CONTEST OF PRINCIPLES and give your imagination a whirl!

I picked up A CONTEST OF PRINCIPLES because I had heard it was a surprisingly topical Star Trek book. Apparently, this was more a happy accident than anything else as while 2016's election was controversial, it was in no way shape or form as controversial as 2020's election was.Thus, Greg Cox's book about the U.S.S Enterprise serving as election observers was not meant to be QUITE as topical as it turned out to be. I personally think Star Trek should be topical and recommend people pick up this book. It may or may not agree with your politics but I think all Star Trek fans should agree, at a base, that democracy=good and that everyone should vote their principles.The book isn't limited to the story about Kirk trying to save democracy on an alien planet in a contested election, though. It also has some very interesting side stories with McCoy and Spock getting their own chances to shy. McCoy becomes something of a Rasputin figure as a foreign healer that is kidnapped to treat an alien monarch's child and immediately becomes the target of evil nobles who worry about his influence over the family. Yes, I'm very much on Rasputin's side in that particular bit of Russian history and wish French courts had ruled against his murderers as his daughter wished.I also like Spock having to deal with the kind of people who are utterly illogical in their actions as long as it is fighting their equivalent of the War on Terror. Just seeing Spock's considerable patience tried as people continue to make stupid move after stupid move because they refuse to listen to reason was a sadly all too realistic storyline. I also liked a joke they made about Spock formerly sporting a beard but it proving controversial.I think the book is perhaps a little too forgiving to the General after he orders his followers to disrupt the election and engage in what amounts to terrorism. Perhaps I'm just sick of politicians inciting violence and getting away with not even a slap on the wrist but the full support of their followers even in defeat.All in all, fantastic book.

I picked this book up due to Greg Cox's reputation as a good Trek writer, and the overall good reviews the book had. This is my first experience with Greg's writing, and I can honestly say I liked his style for the most part; the characters seemed like themselves and the technobabble was fairly on point.What I wasn't crazy about was the plot of this book, especially the political themes. They just weren't very interesting or engaging to me. I've been a trekker for a quite a while, so I know all too well that politics has been a part of ST since the beginning. Here it was just so blatant and lazy that I ended up putting the book down for extended periods of time. Is it really too much to ask for some subtlety in writing, or maybe presenting complex situations from an objective point of view as to promote discussion... like some of the best episodes were?Admittedly it's pretty silly thing to criticize, but plots like this have rarely held my interest, and it seems this still holds true. I'm glad I'm in the minority about this one though! I was looking for a another good standalone Trek story following Agents of Influence and Latter Fire and thought I'd found it; sadly A Contest of Principals was not able to scratch that particular itch.

While the general writing is as excellent as one expects from Greg Cox, this is yet another overly long book, set once again during the 5 year mission, with an unexceptional storyline.

This is like an episode of the show well paced and interesting,if you are a trek fan I would recommend this as an entertaining read.

One of the core tenets of TOS is the friendship of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and how they play off each other. There are good episodes and novels where 1 element of this ego/id/super-id trio is temporarily removed.This novel, which is a compelling political tale about three planets, separates all three from one another. Greg Cox skillfully renders the story and the character's thoughts so you can tell where the absence of e.g. McCoy from Kirk's mission or Spock from McCoy's make a difference. The character is defined by the consequence of their absence, instead of just their actions and contribution to dialog. I loved that!Plus, the novel is fast-paced without having to rely much on explosions and shootouts. Rather than featuring a high Sci-Fi concept this time, it focuses on the struggle of societies with their politics, holding up a mirror to present-day democracy without pointing at a particular nation, culture or ideology.